Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A honey of a day

Today I was really pleased with my progress on the snowflake book. I have a few pictures to take of 3D snowflakes and 2 more to get into the book, before I do the final proofread and make sure it's OK to publish. I was hoping to have it all done except for pictures tonight, but due to unexpected events, that's not going to happen. I had a couple of snowflakes I was going to include, but I've decided to scrap them instead.

This afternoon's mail brought a lovely surprise. Well, not too surprising, since I knew it was coming. I am the fortunate recipient of Ann's delightful tattting press and she even included extra fabric so I could make a matching bag. She already displayed this one on her blog, but what doesn't show so well in the picture is the absolutely perfect workmanship. I can't believe how precisely this is made. I think the soft inner flannel may be hand stitched, but it's so precise it might be machine done, although I can't think of how it could be done on the machine. I have sewn clothes, but my corners and joins where multiple sections come together are always "iffy". If I'm lucky, they work first time, and if I'm not, I give up. I could retrotat 20 minutes worth of work without any problem, but I can't stand to rip and re-sew seams. Which explains why most of the patterns I used were super simple.

I was reminded that I hadn't added any pictures, which was because the light was too poor to take any yesterday after the fiasco with the honey. Although it's cloudy today, I still took some shots so that you can see how pretty and functional the press is. The bow unties to open the press. On the outside I have 2 shuttles tucked in on one side, and on the other side I have my chatelaine with scissors, needles for sewing in ends and a wickedly sharp tiny crochet hook which I normally stuff in my pocket. They fit right in, but I left them peeking out so that you can see them. I am forever getting stabbed in the leg with the hooks on the Aero shuttles and the hook on my chatelaine. They can't stab me any more, and until I get the piece finished and blocked, it will stay neat and tidy closed up in the press. What a brilliant idea! Thank you Ann, I love it!!!

Before I got to do much more, hubby reminded me we needed to make a quick run out to get baking soda from Bulk Barn. It's the store with all the bulk baking supplies and we buy a couple of pounds of baking soda at a time so we can use it for washing and neutralizing acid. We popped into the store and grabbed the baking soda and hubby reminded me that he wanted an oatmeal cookie. They sometimes have the really big 4 or 5 inch cookies and he likes to grab a big cookie to munch on. So we walked around to the back of the store and WHAM I hit the ground smacking my hip and elbow.

Someone had opened the spiggot on the vat of liquid honey without putting a container under it. Liquid honey poured all over the floor and one of the staff had just moved the "caution wet floor" sign around the corner and out of sight while they went to rinse off the mop. I slid through the honey and got soaked from head to toe in the stuff. My shoes and jeans were wet and sticky with it as was my jacket, my purse and my hair. My elbow took the brunt of the impact and to a lesser extent, my hip. I think the layers of jeans and jacket helped to cushion it a bit.

Consequently, now that I've done laundry to wash my jacket and jeans, taken a shower and washed the honey and dirt out of my hair, I'm feeling too bruised and battered to do anything but put my feet up and vegetate.

I hope you reported it to the staff, you will be entitled to compensation for your bruises. For an elderly person, something like that could have been fatal - they should have been more vigilant.The super big cookies sound delicious!

Hope you are ok, tho you're probably feeling the bruises more today. BTW, no photo of the tatting press so I think you were really sidetracked with the honey splat. Maybe hubby will bring you a cookie after all that!

Did I hear you say..."Snowflake book"???? I can't wait! I still need to order the other fabulous book you have out. I'm so far out of the loop, Sharon, I can't remember the title, but I do intend to order it just the same! I'm just if I snoop around your blog I'll find a link or a title somewhere!:D

Hi Sharon!I've been off-line for a bit (sewing) but popped on for a minute and saw your post. So sorry about your fall! I hope you are feeling better today, although I'm afraid you've probably wound up with a HUMONGUS bruise.

I'm SO HAPPY you like the press! I love seeing that beautiful snowflake in it! Hopefully it will keep you from sustaining anymore stabbing injuries (made me laugh because I have done that also).